


Baby Puncher

by orphan_account



Series: December 2020 Twitter Requests [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff, Gen Work, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, hopefully funny tbh idk !, it's just that eremin is an established relationship already, so armin got turned into a kid, so there's nothing romantic happening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28518570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Eren Jaeger was barely qualified to care for himself on the best of days and practically a biohazard on the worst, so expecting him to care for a literal child was a bit above his expertise.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager
Series: December 2020 Twitter Requests [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080830
Comments: 16
Kudos: 108





	Baby Puncher

Eren Jaeger was nineteen, just one year above eighteen, one year below twenty. Legally, he was an adult (and had practically been one since he had entered the military), but mentally he was an overgrown child with facial hair and defined pectoral muscles. 

He was barely qualified to care for himself on the best of days and practically a biohazard on the worst, so expecting him to care for a literal child was a bit above his expertise.

Yet, here he was, babysitting (essentially, trying to not accidentally kill) his boyfriend, who was currently no older than six years old.

Armin Arlert was nineteen, just a few months shy of twenty, but due to some lab experiments gone wrong courtesy of Hange themself, he currently had the physical and mental capabilities of a young child.

After a few minutes of questioning, it was clear that the blond and blue-eyed child that had taken Armin’s place was indeed Armin, albeit younger and without the memories making up his later years. He didn’t even remember Eren, since they had met when they were nine, which helped Hange guess that Armin was around six.

It was a bit nostalgic for Eren to look down at Armin and see chubby face of a child instead; although Eren knew the child in front of him wasn’t a perfect replica of the Armin in his childhood, since the haircut was too short and he was a few years younger than when they had first met, it reminded him of simpler times, times when they would just sit on the grass, stare at the sky, and eat dirt.

Well, _he_ used to eat dirt. Armin always refused, constantly saying something about how dirt wasn’t nutritious and he should know better since his dad was a doctor, which was honestly his loss.

“Mr. Eren?” little Armin asked, tugging on the sleeve of Eren’s shirt and snapping him out of his reverie. 

“Yes?” Eren bent down to eye level with the tiny toddler. “Remember, you don’t need to call me Mr. Eren. You can just call me Eren.”

The child ignored him. “Could you read this book to me?” Armin handed Eren a thick tome that was obviously a bit too heavy for his tiny body, arms shaking with the effort. 

Eren nodded, took the book from Armin, and made his way to the couch at the side of the room. Armin followed, teetering along on his stubby legs and scrambling to sit on the couch, which was just a bit too tall for him. 

Eren watched Armin struggle for half a second before reaching over and helping him up. Sure, Eren knew that Armin normally didn’t like accepting help, but he figured that leaving a child to flail and fail in getting onto the couch would be a bit of an asshole move. 

“Thank you,” Armin said politely, propping himself against the back cushions. “We can start now, Mr. Eren!”

Now, Eren wasn’t the most eloquent or well-read person in the world, but he was pretty sure that he could read a book to a kid perfectly fine. 

When Eren opened the book, though, he was bombarded with a list of characters and words wholly unfamiliar to him. Had books gotten more difficult since he had been last forced to read?

Flipping quickly through the pages to find one that somewhat resembled a normal book, Eren finally settled on something that looked manageable. 

He cleared his throat and began. “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death, the memory be green, and that it us befitted—”

“Mr. Eren,” Armin piped up, “why did you skip a lot of parts?”

“Ah, well, uh,” Eren said intelligently, scrambling to come up with an excuse that was better than _I had no clue how to read anything before this_. “This… this is my favorite part.” 

Armin’s eyes lit up and a smile spread across his chubby cheeks. “Really?”

Nodding, Eren replied, “Yep. I love, uh, this book, uh…” He took a moment to check the cover. “ _Hamlet._ Yeah, it’s my favorite!”

“It’s my favorite book too, Mr. Eren!” Armin exclaimed, swinging his legs back and forth. “I’m so happy Dr. Hange gave me this book so we could read it together.”

A bubbly feeling of pride and love flooded Eren’s chest. “I’m so happy we could read it together too.”

Maybe hanging around Armin as a child wouldn’t be so bad. They could bond a bit by reading some _Hamlet_ (whatever the heck that book was about. Maybe some dude who really enjoyed ham). Sure, Eren missed being able to hang out with his boyfriend as an actual functioning adult, but Armin sure was cute. And, after he turned back, Eren could tease him a little for being a kid for so long.

“Then do you mind if I read it out loud instead, Mr. Eren?” Armin asked, tilting his head just so. “You don’t really pronounce the words very correctly, and you don’t have the right rhythm for the lines. Mr. Eren, we should be giving Mr. Shakespeare more respect.”

Scratch Eren’s earlier thoughts. Eren had almost forgotten that Armin could be a bit of a know-it-all when he was passionate about things, but it was infinitely less endearing when Eren couldn’t just shut him up with a kiss.

If that teeny tiny Armin wasn’t actually a real child, then it wouldn’t be _that_ bad to punt him, right?


End file.
